The Fence Gate — Restaurant in Borough of Pendle

I took my mother for a birthday meal with my husband. It was a Monday night and we sat in the bar area. I phoned in advance and was told food service started at 6pm, we arrived at 6.10pm. After getting our drinks we had to get the attention of the waiting staff to get a menu. Our order was taken about 15 minutes later and the food arrived at about 7pm. All the meals were good so we decided to order desert. Another drink later I had to ask a passing staff if they wouldn't mind clearing our plates and bringing the desert menu which she agreed to do. 20 minutes or so passed so I had to walk to the front desk and ask for menus, which arrived 5 mins later Another 15 or so minutes later I had to go to the front desk and ask if someone could take our desert order. We placed our order for 3 deserts and a tea. The tea was served initially around all the empty glasses from 2 rounds of drinks which I had to ask to be cleared otherwise we would have been a bit cramped with an additional teapot and cup and saucer. We then waited for probably another 20 minutes for our deserts. By the time I'd finished my cup of tea we gave up waiting. So at approximately 20.45 we approached the front desk, cancelled the deserts and paid what I owed. We received an apology and an excuse of the restaurant had suddenly got busy, but if I'm not mistaken you pay the same prices in the bar area and should expect the same service. I watched the waiting on staff for a while, because I had plenty of time to do it, some seemed to be running around and some doing not much at all, each waiting staff should have allocated tables to man, it's not rocket science, so no body should be running and no one doing nothing. But what really wound me up is to get there at 18.10 and to be overlooked because the restaurant got busy later on. Sam on the front desk told us to ask for him personally next time and he would make sure we were waited on, but I'm not sure they will be...

Awful from start to finish. Thought i would take my son out for a nice meal, with a 1 yr old with us too. Got there waited 10 mins, no one came over. Asked at the bar for menus, was just told someone will be round with them soon, not explaining that they don't start serving food until 6pm. Finally 20 mins later some menus were dropped on the table without a word. We chose what we wanted ,but nobody came to take our order, so i went to the bar and asked a lady if i could order some food, she then told me 'not until after 6pm , thats when it starts thank youuuu ' in a very bossy and patronising manner and then just continued chatting to another member of staff, i didnt say anything. Then a girl finally took our order, and i had to ask for a highchair as no one in the whole time, had asked if we needed one.She brought it and well she might aswell have not bothered, it was no use at all the child was slipping out of it all the time, nearly smashing his face. Then after a very long wait , other people started getting served their food way before us even though they ordered after us. Ours finally came , and it was awful, i had lamb off the specials menu , there was nothing special about it and wouldnt have filled the 1 yr old let alone an adult. And the burger that my son had was dry and tasteless, for the prices they charge i expected it to be much nicer. No one once came over to ask if everything was ok with our food. We went to pay thinking surely she will ask how everything was ,but nope ,not even a word apart from to tell me the paper isnt working in the till roll. Absolutely shocking from start to finish, would not recommend at all , The place itself was lovely, and warm but the staff need a lot more training on how to speak to customers. It felt like I'd turned up on their doorstep as an unwanted guest. We will not...

Nice place, nice atmosphere overall, quite expensive for some basic dishes, and to be fair tasty but a farm house grill had the smallest lamb chop I have ever had and a "gammon steak" that was approx 3 inch diameter and 1/4 inch think,, not really a "steak" and a 1.5 inch cube of black pudding...a small egg, half a small tomato(grilled) and a small basket of fries.... what no mushrooms??? no fried bread!?? pretty sure even many farmers in the area would not call it a farmhouse grill!!! it was tasty but a small amount of food for £17.95 even missed out the "pineapple salsa" off the plate, mind you, I mentioned it to the fantastic waitress serving us, came back with " the chef says he is sorry"!.. ah the old sorry trick... yeah great, put it in the drawer with all the others I get.. shame to not get what we paid for, just a sorry.. oh great ice cream !!! very expensive lunch £71, not enough food for the pound, the mash and x2 sausages had no dressing to the plate, no greenery looked lost on arrival x2 dollops of mash, x2 sausages which were very "herby", we know we make our own sausages!!!.. think £15 or close for sausage and mash.. big expectations for this place,sadly we will not be calling again, it was busy mind, in fact very.. Hope other guests leave genuine reviews, but most just leave and never return, some might return if 100% satisfied, we weren't.. sorry Fence Gate.. not good enough for the price you charged. ps starter dish £9 photo..approx x4 fork morsels, it was nice ... seafood money bags,...